News Items

BCTF looks forward to
meeting new Minister of EducationRegarding today’s announcement
of a new Minister of Education in BC, BCTF President Jim Iker said, “We look
forward to meeting Minister Bernier and getting him up to speed on the
significant challenges—like underfunding, class composition, and the lack of
specialist teachers— that are impacting our schools and students.”

World Congress of teachers takes place in Canada for the first timeThe international teacher union movement is united and on the move to promote the rights of every child worldwide to a quality public education. More than 2,000 teacher leaders from 190 countries met in Ottawa from July 21–26, 2015 to participate in the World Congress of
Education International (EI).

Rallies call for release of
Iranian teacher leader“Iran—Free our teachers!” That is the message from teacher activists in Iran and thousands of colleagues from around the world who are gathered in Ottawa for the 7th World Congress of Education International.

An estimated 100 teachers were arrested July 22 in Tehran as they held a silent vigil in support of Esmail Abdi, General Secretary of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association, and other imprisoned teachers.

MyEducation BC — critical issues in technologyMyEducation BC is the new student information system for BC schools. New technologies always raise issues—from implementation and support to privacy in the era of “Big data.” This Powerpoint frames some of these issues.

Class composition stats highlight Premier's broken promiseDuring last year's strike, Premier Christy Clark promised to make class composition her number one priority. However, statistics released April 17 show there has been virtually no improvement. According to the government's own figures, there are 16,156 classes with four or more
children with special needs.

Public funding of private schools boosted by MinistryThe Ministry this year gave independent schools a $5 million increase based on the Labour Settlement Fund resulting from the strike by public school teachers. Private schools get even more if the district they are located in is funded for drops in enrolment. Read the details
here.

Independent school funding has increased more than 60% in the last decade, compared to less than 20% for public schools. Ministry budget projections for the next 3 years show further major gains.
More...

Education funding—questions and answersDoes education funding for public schools even keep up with general inflation? What about other downloaded costs? Find answers to these and other questions about education funding.

Teacher Solidarity Across Borders Read a
new article about the importance of international solidarity in counteracting the effects of neo-liberalism worldwide. Find out more about the BCTF’s International Solidarity program at the updated webpage
here.